Book 1: Air
by invisibot
Summary: Welp, this is my first story... ever. And it's a Zutara story that starts at the VERY BEGINNING of the series (like Book 1) but with a bit of Callia flare. (Notice Book 1 is Air.) I'm no good at writing summaries, so don't judge the story based on this because I can't do it justice in around 300 words-it's just not possible for me. Thanks for the opportunity! I hope you enjoy!
1. Chapter 1 - Consumption

**SO! I don't own ANY of this (characters, setting, etcetera). So... Disclaimed. Also, this is my first story... ever. So, be very patient with me. I'm also a very busy college student, so it'll probably take me a while to get another post up. But leave comments anyway because it would be nice to know that people actually like my story and not my friends just saying "Oh, yeah... that's... great?" Now - a few more thorny details: I know this chapter is really confusing, so I promise there will be another one... eventually. Also, I really love the series, don't get me wrong, but I happen to be a Zutara fan... so... yeah, all y'all that think that the series finale was great - leave this page now... if you want, I don't care. Anyway, what was I saying? Oh, yeah! This is a Zutara story that starts at the VERY BEGINNING of the series... like Book 1... but with a bit of Callia-is-so-awesome-ness to it (notice it starts with Book 1 being Air.) This is gonna be good. Honestly, though, I have no idea where I'm going to go with this and it drives my sister (who's a creative writing major) crazy. (I'm a PT major with no English abilities whatsoever. So this is a daring attempt.) So! Any other questions, frustrations or congratulations? Leave a comment. Aaand without further ado: Boom.**

** CHAPTER I – Consumption **

"Wha…?"

Katara's hoarse voice echoed in the cold, vast darkness that surrounded her. _Where am I? _Sitting up from her fetal position, the Waterbender blinked her eyes trying to gain some bearings as to where she was, hyperventilating slightly when all her eyes registered was coal black. Had she gone blind?

"Gran Gran? Sokka?" The girl managed to choke out.

She squeezed her eyes shut, rubbing the heels of her bear-seal fur mitten-covered hands along her lashes. The only light she could see were the glows of green, red and blue as she increased the pressure on her lids, willing her sight to return to her. But even these glows would dissolve into the stark obscurity she found herself in, when she opened her eyes again. Katara sat there, quietly, trying to listen to her surroundings; listening for her grandmother's soft breathing, her brother's thunderous snoring, the fire embers crackling…but a pure nothingness met her ears. Taking a deep breath in attempts to collect her thoughts, she struggled to her feet, stumbling, with her hands and arms in front of her probing the void; searching, feeling for something – ANYTHING – to help her gain some aspect to where she was.

_Just a few more steps_,she told herself, forming a picture of her family's hut in her mind's eye, seeking the exit. But after a few seconds, when she came upon nothing where the animal skin flap should be, Katara really began to panic. With her hands still out stretched, she picked up her pace, jogging then running, to flat out sprinting in desperate hopes to find something tangible to cling to and lead her get out of this hell hole. After what felt like hours and miles, the girl finally collapsed to her knees on the unforgivably hard and ragged ground starting to weep as the infinite darkness consumed her. Her breaths came in short, gasping chokes, her throat burning from the rigid cold of the surrounding air. A shrill wail escaped her lips sending a new found pain tearing at her throat as the pitiful sound seeped into the atmosphere. She no longer knew what made her body convulse more: her shivering from the sheer cold or the sobs that seemed to rack her body from her very core.

_Gran Gran?_

_Sokka?_

_Dad… Please…Mom… Help me. I need help! S_he pleaded as a fresh wave of emotions devoured her at the thought of her mother, tears biting at her cheeks. She lifted her hands to meet her face as she dropped her head, defeated. All that could be heard was the soft, muffled chokes of the Waterbender's sobbing.

Abruptly, one by one, droplets of pale white light began to fall like rain dimly illuminating her surroundings. The girl sniffled, wiping her nose with the soft fur on the back of her mittened hand. _What the hell…?_ The falling stars surrounded her, falling like molten rock from the heavens. Katara cautiously rose, looking up to the black sky from where they came. There was something about this shower, the drops… and was it getting warmer? The Waterbender ungloved her right hand, noticing the drastic increase in temperature and raising it out before her. Quietly, she closed her eyes, taking in a deep breath – _concentrate_. In a short moment, she noticed something was off. She couldn't **_feel_** it. There's no – _That's it, _Katara thought to herself, _these drops… they're not… rain..._

Katara's eyes widened as she flipped her hand over, the molten stars slowly collecting in her palm and flowing off the sides of her hand. Their pure warmth radiated to the tips of her fingers and began to flow up her forearm, warming her to her core. It was a soothing feeling, reassuring, calming. Maybe she could find her way out of this Hell Hole. But these droplets of light remained a mystery to her, allowing a sliver of doubt to wedge its way into the serenity that tried to fill her heart.

Dancing just in the Waterbender's peripherals, these bizarre lights began to assemble, pooling off in the distance. She turned, her eyebrows furrowed in wonder and uncertainty. The drops had gradually slowed and eventually stopped their drizzle, what was left on the ground began to unite with the rest of the bright liquid as they flowed around her thick leather and fur boots, amassing a few paces away. Katara closed the gap between her and the puddle quickly, albeit cautiously, gazing into the reflective surface of these converged stars.

She gazed at the young woman with puffy, red eyes and cheeks from a mixture of her crying and the ever increasing temperature. Katara saw the weakness in her heart reflected back at her in the face of this pitiful child. The pool rippled and the girl saw a woman with a warm smile and strong, azure eyes take the place of the broken girl before her. Katara's heart raced, this woman, her mother was the image found in the stars. The Waterbender stretched out her hand as a lump of guilt and agony lodged itself in her throat. _Mom…? _ The reflection copied her movements as if trying to comfort this wounded girl above the surface. It was getting difficult to breath. She swallowed in an attempt to relieve herself of the discomfort in her gullet, but it lingered. Katara touched the gathered stars in hopes to be able to have the comforting touch of her mother, but again, the pool rippled, banishing the woman from Katara's sight – A swift and merciless reminder that her mother was still gone from the daughter's world.

The lump in Katara's throat managed to escape in another mournful cry that echoed throughout the darkness in which she had awoken. In an attempt to escape the sight of the stars, Katara whipped around, determined to run away from the horrors that have haunted her dreams since her childhood, only to draw up short when before her was a floating form - almost inhuman at first glance. Shock and terror were the first emotions to register and sent the Waterbender stumbling backwards, as she took in the sight of this shadowed figure. At first, the only light illuminating the strange, half naked man came from the stars behind Katara, giving her minimal features to observe – lithe form with toned muscles, hunched shoulders, bald, small stature… too small for a man. To Katara's surprise, she had stumbled along a young boy by the few features she could identify in such minimal light. He seemed so small with jagged collar bones and strained muscles. _ Where did he come from?_

"Hello?" Katara rose, sniffling and wiping at her tears again, her mother forgotten for the moment.

"Can you help me? I don't know where I am-" another sob escaped, "I just want to…"

Gradually, the boy's limbs and forehead began to glow, pale blue arrows traversing along each member beginning on his back and terminating at his hands, feet and forehead. The soft illumination cast the boy's eyes in a dramatic shadow, hiding the majority of his face save the grimace etched in his features. He looked so menacing. The sight sent an uneasy feeling through the Waterbender, making the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Katara took a step backwards, suddenly unsure of this child before her, becoming very uncomfortable in the ever increasing temperature.

"Are – Are you alright," the girl asked as a bead of sweat trickled down her temple and sniffling.

Suddenly, the boy's eyes shot open and staring right Katara, startling the Waterbender out of her observations. _Shit, he looks pissed. _The wind began picking up, swirling into a tornado with a speed that knocked the girl off her feet, making her stagger back to gain her balance.

Utterly petrified, the Waterbender was fixed to the ground by his sharp glare. Motionless she watched the boy rise from his position, floating higher and higher, but his gaze soon strayed to behind her. Anxiety drove Katara over the edge with adrenaline kicking in, allowing her to finally rip her eyes from this daunting boy and turn on her heel to flee this endless terror, only to discover that her escape was barred by a tidal wave of fire – inexorable. Katara couldn't move, frozen even amidst the inferno. The tongues of fire began to lap at her hair, cheeks, shoulders and chest, setting the Waterbender ablaze, helpless without her element; she collapsed, consumed by the heat of the flames.


	2. Chapter 2 - Ullaaq

**_CHAPTER II – Ullaaq _**

**_This chapter was written with inspiration from Shakespeare, thanks Willie, you're awesome. Also I chose a native language for Watertribe: I designated Inuktitut (An Inuit language spoken in the Arctic –YES! I know that the Arctic is the North Pole and Katara happens to be in the South Pole, but people in Antarctica speak mainly French, Norwegian and English… So… I wanted something else, and this is what I came up with, so… get over it.) _**

**_Ullaaq - Morning_**

**_Panik - Daughter_**

**_Nalaktok – Listen_**

**_Also, also, this is a really short chapter, but I've been so busy with school and work that I haven't really had time to even brainstorm, much less write right now._**

**_Also_****_3_****_, in my story the Gaang is a little older than they were in the show, but I'll explain how all that is possible and in more detail later. _**

**_So without further delay, here ya go. Sorry it's so short and so, so late. I hope you enjoy, though, and don't forget to leave a review, please…(I've been checking to see if I've gotten any reviews and die a little inside every time I see that I haven't… so y'all are killing me… just so you know.) And I don't own any of this. *DISCLAMED* Okay, now you can read._**

Katara awoke, bolt upright in her sleeping bag and gasping for air inside the family hut, barely lit only by the smolders of the fire. Frantically grasping at her clothes, eyes darting along her arms and torso, she realized that, in fact, she was not on fire no matter how real her dream felt… It was just a dream, she thought as she took long, shaky breaths in attempts to gain composure as to not wake Sokka or Gran in their cots just a few feet away. It was calming to hear her grandmother's breathing coming out in soft whistles, though they were barely audible over her brother's deafening snores. Just a dream, just a dream, just a dream, just a dream… Taking in one last deep breath, the Waterbender brought her hand up to her cheek, still damp with tears – had she been crying in her sleep? Wiping her cheeks and eyes with the hem of her sleeve, Katara rose from her cot to begin her morning routine. She dressed in no time, taking great care to tie her boots tight so the snow couldn't invade and make her feet freeze. The last thing she needs is to have frost bite. With that on her mind, she added some wood to the dying fire. As she stoked the flames to life, she couldn't help but think of her dream, so much heat, searing pain… She stopped her actions, just to escape her memories of earlier that night; the fire should catch on its own she convinced herself.

Taking one last look around the hut, making sure that Gran and Sokka were still asleep, she grabbed her parka and gloves then retreated out the threshold into the freezing, early morning. Must've snowed last night, the girl thought to herself as she wadded through the extra half foot of the fresh powder. Luckily, though, the sky's clear now and the Moon Spirit, Tui, was shining her kindness down on the village; the moon is almost full. Katara wandered past the crumbling Southern Watertribe fortress wall, out into the wild tundra, anxious to get her day started.

When Katara was a little girl, her mother would take her to a peninsula where the ocean and the ice meet, not too far from the village. It's here that she seeks solace, now. The path to this sanctuary is engraved in her mind. The young girl could walk it blindfolded, but she couldn't argue with an almost full moon. Thinking about her mother, though, was another stark reminder of her dream… She's had the dream before – for the past few weeks, actually. Gran Gran says that 'sleep should knit up the raveled sleeve of life. The spirits provide us needle and thread, but we must commit to the mend, lest be consumed by the cold.' The Waterbender shook her head and heaved a sigh as she's pulled closer to the ocean. Damn it, Gran… Having to be so confusing with those annoying enigmas. What the fuck is that supposed to mean, anyway? She was lost in thought, analyzing each aspect of her dream until she came upon the outcropping of ice. Her mind wandered back to her mother.

"Be patient and observe, panik. Tui and La will show you," Kya explained to the impatient five year old before her. Katara raised her arms, listening to the waves lap along the ice. She could always **feel **something, but as a child, she couldn't quite grasp what the constant humming in her fingertips was. The youngster's shoulders fell along with defeated tears. She raised her chin to look at her mother, azure eyes glistening with her very element.

"But, Mama, how can the spirits teach me to Waterbend?" The young Waterbender sobbed and her mother sighed, helplessly. Since Katara first showed signs of her gift, Kya had been as helpful as possible: always encouraging the girl to do her best and relaying every memory she had of her mother's bending, but since all the Southern Watertribe's Waterbenders were taken captive years ago, Katara was usually forced to teach herself. Kya was at a loss she did the next best thing: she gathered the weeping girl in her arms and held her tight.

"Nalaktok. Listen and they will guide you."

Kya's words echoed in Katara's head, momentarily drowning out the sound of the waves crashing against the unyielding ice. The Waterbender peered across the glistening vastness of her element. Aiming her face to the sky, the young girl closed her eyes and took in a deep breath – inhaling the smell of salt from the ocean spray and a hint of smoke wafting from the village mingled together in the biting cold. Exhaling, she took her Waterbending stance. Legs: shoulder width apart, right foot: slightly forward – loose, smooth, like the waves themselves. She opened her sapphire eyes as she raised her hands with the tide, shifting her weight between each foot. Forward and backward, forward and back, she began moving her hands with the rhythm of the waves. This was the first move she had learned. She began her practicing by helping the waves as they crested over the ice. After a few months, she was finally able to get the same surge of waves as the ocean tides with the still waters within the ceramic storage pots of her family hut. Though, back then, she could only make ripples. Now, she was able to create a true tide – if she concentrated enough. (Not to mention, it made a great warm up.) As the frigid, early morning wore on, Katara kept to her training routine: attempting to master old tricks and struggling to learn new ones. After about two hours of rigorous Waterbending – despite the freezing cold – she worked up a sweat and finally seeing the slight glow of the sun on the horizon meant that it was time to head back to the village anyway.


End file.
